Thanatophobia, the abnormal but pervasive fear of death, has been around for a long time. Most of us read a poem by that name, Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryan, in high school, a poem now more than 200 years old. And if that one does not ring a bell, surely Invictus will, a poem written by William Ernest Henley, yet another poem now more than 150 years old. Millennials have also broached the subject in a somewhat macabre way with more than a handful of bands, and of course the grunge movement. The famous Swiss artist, Arnold Böcklin, painted his Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Violin, a haunting reminder that we are always near death’s door. One cannot bypass the medieval artists who always had a memento mori, a Latin phrase that means remember that you must die, at hand. Often, this took the form of a skull that sat on a desk or in an armoire.
To argue that our culture is more than a little fixated on death would be unfair. All cultures have, to some extent, had this image in some propinquity to daily life. An unseemly fixation on death is, of course, neither normal nor healthy (no pun intended). But even with all the poems, books, and paintings about death over the centuries, nothing compares to our own obsession.
I’m not speaking of the number of election posts of late that refer to never voting again for someone over the age of sixty. All of those posters, if they live that long, will face the same fate that they are casting on the 60+ crowd now. And while such posts reek of ageism, one has to simply ignore them for what they are: internet dross.
Nothing, not memento mori, not poems, grunge, not anything else, however, can compare to the Massachusetts Governor’s recent macabre death-bill-signing bloodbath. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed a bill that allows abortion up to the time of birth. She signed it with a dozen or more harridans all gleefully applauding this decision. Doubtless, some of these women have children. Heads up, kids: better sleep with one eye open in case Mom gets in one of her moods again about having children. You may think that’s a throwaway line, but consider the case of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother who murdered her three children and is claiming postpartum psychosis (even rarer than depression). Her children are 5, 3, and 8 months. She sent her husband on errands and then killed them. She jumped out of a two-story window, and the fall left her paralyzed. Scores of women dressed in pink have appeared outside Plymouth Superior Court demanding her release.
Here’s the execution, er, bill-signing by Governor Healey that may well exonerate women like Clancy:
It’s important to think about what that means. To get an abortion “up to the point of birth,” you have to suck out the brains of the unborn in order to be able to deliver the head. Think of deflating a balloon, filled not with air, but with brains. Granted, this is not something anyone likes to think about because it is so Nazi-like, Holocaust-macabre, but there it is. More than a dozen women, many of whom appear to be of child-bearing age, delighted that the government would sign a bill to execute children right up to the point of birth. What is so ironic is that every woman in this picture DID NOT have a mother who chose the route they are applauding, including Governor Healey. Governor Healey and these women have forgotten that the baby is NOT their body. They do not have a de facto right to execute.
What is so puzzling about all this is that preventing a pregnancy is not rocket science. You make that decision BEFORE you decide to engage in sexual relations, not after. This bill means that at any point during the nine months a would-be mother can kill her unborn child. In fact, she can execute her child right as she goes into labor.
But why stop there? Australian octogenarian philosopher Peter Singer argues that “abortion” should be allowed after birth, especially for those children who have multiple handicaps. Parents, he argues, have the right to lord over their children’s life-and-death decisions. In his widely read and respected book, Practical Ethics, Singer contends that “birth” is not a dividing line. If parents have children that are hopelessly handicapped, then they should be able to withhold life support while the child dies. Fortunately for his eight decades, his mother did not consider these options.
It isn’t much of a jump from this view to the next one: hopelessly compromised elderly. Let’s take them out before they run up an exorbitant bill. After all, many of the election posts mentioned earlier are about excluding anyone over 60. And why stop there? Can’t we just extend this to anyone who annoys us mercilessly? I can think of a dozen right off the bat. Of course, those same dozens doubtless have me on their list.
It is profoundly sad to think a governor in these United States would sign such a bill, but here we are. Doubtless, more states will take up this sword, literally, and provide a way for motherhood to become bloodthirsty mothers.
Because Healey claims to be a Catholic, some Catholics are calling for her to be forbidden communion, if not excommunicated. It’s not likely that the new pope will have the fortitude to make that decision. He did not have a spine when he talked about illegal immigration. One can only hope and pray he finds one on this issue.
Mother Teresa once said that there can be no peace until there is peace in the womb.
Apparently, we are in for more war.
